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To: Land Shark who wrote (2524)	9/21/2011 5:34:47 PM
From: longnshort	3 Recommendations Respond to of 85487

Union conflict flares at Longview, Wash., terminal Sep 21 05:25 PM US/Eastern By MIKE BAKER Associated Press (As Mayor Daley said 'shoot to kill) Comments (3) Email to a friend Share on Facebook Tweet this An unidentified longshoreman reacts after being maced and detained at port... Police in riot gear protect an incoming train carrying grain at the port... Police in riot gear walk along railroad tracks to protect an incoming train... LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) - Longshoremen returned to the railroad tracks near a Columbia River grain terminal with union members' wives and mothers Wednesday, blocking a shipment and facing more arrests in their battle for jobs. Two union officers and about 10 of the women were detained, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 President Dan Coffman said in a statement. Coffman was among those involved despite a judge's repeated orders that the union not block entrance to the site. Law enforcement officers brought a massive force to various parts of the railroad tracks, including two tactical vehicles, canine units and about a dozen personnel in full riot gear. At least two protesters were treated after being hit with pepper spray, and the train eventually made its way into the EGT Development facility. Union leaders decried the law enforcement activity, saying it amount to a private security force paid for by taxpayers. "Longview Longshoremen stood down from their jobs for 30 minutes in silence as a unit train rolled into EGT under the escort of police paid for by the very workers in the community of Cowlitz County that the company is undermining and exploiting," Leal Sundet, ILWU Coast Committeeman, said in a statement. The actions appeared to defy the National Labor Relations Board and the orders of a federal judge who has already held the union in contempt and is considering fines for previous actions. The ILWU believes its members have the right to work at the new $200 million terminal. EGT has hired another firm that is staffing with workers from a different union, Oregon-based Operating Engineers Local 701. EGT hopes to establish the terminal on the Columbia River as a top West Coast location for shipping grain to growing markets in Asia. "This grain delivery is an important step toward completing the facility's testing phase and bringing it online. Nevertheless, the ILWU's actions are in direct defiance of the law and the ruling of a federal judge," EGT CEO Larry Clarke said in a statement. About 200 people have been arrested in demonstrations this summer at the terminal. In the largest a couple weeks ago, several hundred blocked a train shipment in Vancouver and Longview. That demonstration also led to a clash with authorities, and an attempt by police to arrest the union's leader was blocked when the huge crowd surged forward. Authorities say hundreds returned to the site overnight, stormed the terminal, held security guards and damaged rail cars. "We appreciate the continuing efforts of local law enforcement to ensure the safety of workers and businesses at the port and allow commerce to proceed," Clarke said. Wednesday's train hauled 107 cars of wheat from Cheney, Wash., Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway said. It was escorted by BNSF security, said spokesman Gus Melonas. Two groups totaling about 50 people blocked the tracks temporarily at Longview, Melonas said. After the train arrived, its crew was escorted by authorities for their safety.

To: Land Shark who wrote (2524)	9/21/2011 10:30:52 PM
From: Wharf Rat	2 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 85487

Here's a sad story that will embarrass almost everybody but you. Me? I'm embarrassed this guy is at Cal; he should be at Stanferd Junior U. Oh, well. He's not the worst guy on campus. I think his chances of snorting more koch has been severely compromised. Critics' review unexpectedly supports scientific consensus on global warming A UC Berkeley team's preliminary findings in a review of temperature data confirm global warming studies. April 04, 2011\|By Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times A team of UC Berkeley physicists and statisticians that set out to challenge the scientific consensus on global warming is finding that its data-crunching effort is producing results nearly identical to those underlying the prevailing view. The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project was launched by physics professor Richard Muller, a longtime critic of government-led climate studies, to address what he called "the legitimate concerns" of skeptics who believe that global warming is exaggerated. But Muller unexpectedly told a congressional hearing last week that the work of the three principal groups that have analyzed the temperature trends underlying climate science is "excellent.... We see a global warming trend that is very similar to that previously reported by the other groups." The hearing was called by GOP leaders of the House Science & Technology committee, who have expressed doubts about the integrity of climate science. It was one of several inquiries in recent weeks as the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to curb planet-heating emissions from industrial plants and motor vehicles have come under strenuous attack in Congress. Muller said his group was surprised by its findings, but he cautioned that the initial assessment is based on only 2% of the 1.6 billion measurements that will eventually be examined. The Berkeley project's biggest private backer, at $150,000, is the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. Oil billionaires Charles and David Koch are the nation's most prominent funders of efforts to prevent curbs on the burning of fossil fuels, the largest contributor to planet-warming greenhouse gases. The $620,000 project is also partly funded by the federal Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where Muller is a senior scientist. Muller said the Koch foundation and other contributors will have no influence over the results, which he plans to submit to peer-reviewed scientific journals. Ken Caldeira, an atmospheric scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, which contributed some funding to the Berkeley effort, said Muller's statement to Congress was "honorable" in recognizing that "previous temperature reconstructions basically got it right…. Willingness to revise views in the face of empirical data is the hallmark of the good scientific process." But conservative critics who had expected Muller's group to demonstrate a bias among climate scientists reacted with disappointment. Anthony Watts, a former TV weatherman who runs the skeptic blog WattsUpWithThat.com, wrote that the Berkeley group is releasing results that are not "fully working and debugged yet.... But, post normal science political theater is like that." Over the years, Muller has praised Watts' efforts to show that weather station data in official studies are untrustworthy because of the urban heat island effect, which boosts temperature readings in areas that have been encroached on by cities and suburbs. But leading climatologists said the previous studies accounted for the effect, and the Berkeley analysis is confirming that, Muller acknowledged. "Did such poor station quality exaggerate the estimates of global warming?" he asked in his written testimony. "We've studied this issue, and our preliminary answer is no."... 1 \| 2 \| Next articles.latimes.com

To: Land Shark who wrote (2524)	6/28/2013 2:06:50 PM
From: average joe	Respond to of 85487

Canadian Police use Weather Crisis as Excuse to Search for and Seize Guns Give back flood victims' guns, Harper's office tells RCMP RCMP took guns out of homes in flooded High River, Alta. By Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News Posted: Jun 28, 2013 12:49 PM ET Last Updated: Jun 28, 2013 1:33 PM ET RCMP officers working in High River, Alberta on June 25, wear protective masks to prevent toxic dust from entering their lungs. The RCMP took some guns from homes they searched that they said were not stored safely and the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement Friday saying it wants them returned. (Jordan Verlage/Canadian Press) Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office is urging the RCMP in High River, Alta., to focus on "more important" tasks and to return the guns officers took from homes they were searching for victims in the evacuated flood zone. Harper's office issued a statement Friday morning in quick reaction to the news that the RCMP had taken some firearms that they said weren't stored properly in empty homes. "If any firearms were taken, we expect they will be returned to their owners as soon as possible," the statement said. "We believe the RCMP should focus on more important tasks such as protecting lives and private property." "We are expressing our view," a spokesman for Harper, Carl Vallee, said in an email when asked for comment about the statement. The RCMP would not comment on the PMO's suggestions, and a spokesman for the High River detachment said the RCMP was acting in the interest of public safety. "When RCMP officers were going door-to-door searching each residence for potential victims, we did come across a couple of residences where there were some firearms that were left insecure," Corp. Darrin Turnbull told CBC News in an interview. "In those situations, when they were out in plain view and they were not properly secured and stored, those firearms were taken by the RCMP member and safely secured in the High River detachment." Search was for victims, not gunsTurnbull said once people are allowed back in their homes, they can pick up their guns. He didn't know exactly how many firearms had been collected and emphasized that officers were not specifically searching for guns or going out of their way to find them. "The RCMP were not searching houses looking for firearms. The RCMP were going into homes looking for victims. If while we were in that home looking for victims there was an insecured firearm that was out in the open, we had to take that firearm to make sure it was safe." The Canadian Shooting Sports Association doesn't agree and says the RCMP had "breached and sullied their contract with the public to serve and protect." "This act of aggression is further proof that the RCMP have a not-so-hidden agenda to take guns away from responsible gun owners," Tony Bernardo, head of the group, said in a release. Bernardo said the RCMP overstepped its mandate and he's happy Harper's office has got involved in the matter. "We are advised that the Prime Minister's Office will examine whether the rights of Canadians have been ignored by the police. I am confident that the federal government will deal swiftly with those who have portrayed Canada as a police state in the eyes of the of the world." cbc.ca

To: Land Shark who wrote (2524)	6/29/2013 12:24:55 AM
From: average joe	3 Recommendations Recommended By Brumar89 FJB Paul Smith Respond to of 85487

Rare bird last seen in Britain 22 years ago reappears - only to be killed by wind turbine in front of a horrified crowd of birdwatchers The white-throated needletail is usually only seen in Asia and Australasia Forty birdwatchers dashed to the Hebrides to catch a glimpse of this one But as they watched it was knocked 'stone dead' after impact with turbine By Will Robinson PUBLISHED: 21:52 GMT, 27 June 2013 \| UPDATED: 18:35 GMT, 28 June 2013 Sorry end: The needletail pictured after its unfortunate and deadly altercation with a wind turbine on the Isle of Harris in the Hebrides There had been only eight recorded sightings of the white-throated needletail in the UK since 1846. So when one popped up again on British shores this week, twitchers were understandably excited. A group of 40 enthusiasts dashed to the Hebrides to catch a glimpse of the brown, black and blue bird, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia. But instead of being treated to a wildlife spectacle they were left with a horror show when it flew into a wind turbine and was killed. John Marchant, 62, who had made the trip all the way from Norfolk, said: ‘We were absolutely over the moon to see the bird. We watched it for nearly two hours. ‘But while we were watching it suddenly got a bit close to the turbine and then the blades hit it. ‘We all rushed up to the turbine, which took about five minutes, hoping the bird had just been knocked out the sky but was okay. ‘Unfortunately it had taken a blow to the head and was stone dead. ‘It was really beautiful when it was flying around, graceful and with such speed. To suddenly see it fly into a turbine and fall out the sky was terrible.’ The last sighting of a white-throated needletail was 22 years ago. A relative of the common swift, it is said to be capable of flying at an astonishing 106mph. The bird was thousands of miles off course when it was originally spotted in Northumberland, before travelling further north. But it hadn’t reckoned on the wind turbine hazards of the Hebrides when it landed on the Isle of Harris. More... The claws are out! A tiny owl and an angry woodpecker clash over food for their young in dramatic battle of the birds Japanese racing pigeon flies off from 600-mile race and makes trans-Pacific trek to Canada instead Breathtaking beauty of the battling birds: Incredible pictures of scrapping starlings are so sharp you can see every last feather Average wind speeds in the area are 50 per cent higher than the national average, making it a valuable natural resource to tap into. Lewis and Harris, technically one island, already has a number of wind farms, with several more planned in future. See video of the bird captured before the accident below Incoming: The turbine at Drinishader on the Isle of Harris which the rare bird crashed into, right in front of a group of keen twitchers who had tracked its progress all the way from Northumberland The white-throated needletail’s journey through northern Britain was enthusiastically tracked by several bird watchers. A spokesman for the website Bird Guides said: ‘Why it is ended up in Harris is a bit of a mystery – it should be well away in Siberia, Australia or Japan. ‘It obviously got lost and the weather may have played a part. It is difficult to say. ‘It was spotted by chance by two birders from Northumberland who were on holiday, and they knew what they were looking at. So there is a chance it may have been here a lot longer. ‘It could have re-orientated itself and is capable of flying vast distances. In fact it spends more time in the air than on the ground. So it could have worked out it was in the wrong place and flown to where it should be.’ SPOTTED The rare bird is filmed before the unfortunate accident MATING RITUAL AT 106MPH The white-throated needletail is known as the Stormbird in Australia as it is often seen during storms and bushfires Hitting speeds of up to 106mph, it is the fastest bird in flight. (The peregrine falcon can reach 200mph but is assisted by gravity in its dives or ‘stoops’) Swifts reach their highest speeds during mating displays known as ‘screaming parties’ in which they show off to potential partners and emit loud squawks during dramatic vertical climbs Copulation is said to take place in mid-air at high speed Its call is ‘chitter chitter chitter’ It feeds on flying insects, such as termites, beetles and flies. They catch the insects in flight in their gaping beaks During freezing weather they enter a coma-like state for several days at a time to conserve energy It nests in trees but spends most of its time in the air Nick Moran, who runs bird tracking online for the British Trust for Ornithology, said he had been monitoring the bird’s progress since its arrival in the UK. He said: ‘It is not the happiest ending for a bird that has flown half way around the world. ‘It was a real day of mixed emotions for everyone there, they were all so happy they got to see it, but then witnessed it die.’ Mr Moran said that birds like this would be most at risk from turbines during the day when they are flying low to feed on insects. A spokesman for the RSPB said it did not know the exact details of the case but migrating birds can be blown off course when travelling and the needletail may have lost its bearings and ended up in the UK. She added: ‘Careful choice of location and design of wind farms and turbines prevents, as much as possible, such occurrences happening on a large scale. ‘Wind energy makes a vital contribution towards mitigating the impacts of climate change, which is the biggest threat to our native birds and wildlife.’ The Rare Bird Alert, an online service that notifies users of sightings, had passed on reports of the white-throated needletail on Tuesday. A spokesman for the service said users had told them the bird died on Wednesday. Yesterday morning, the service tweeted: ‘The white-throated needletail on Harris flew into a wind turbine and has died. ‘Pathetic way for such an amazing bird to die.’ It is not the first time a bird-watching trip has ended in tragedy. On a previous outing, a group of twitchers in the Hebrides had seen a migratory wryneck hit by a train. dailymail.co.uk